UConn To Buy 38 Prospect For Downtown Hartford Campus

HARTFORD — UConn is going to buy 38 Prospect St. for about $4 million as part its development of a new regional campus in downtown Hartford, according to a resolution approved Wednesday by the university's Board of Trustees.

Laura Cruickshank, the university's master planner and chief architect, said UConn has been looking at negotiating shared spaced with surrounding venues — Hartford Public Library, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the Connecticut Science Center — when it came across this building that the owners were willing to sell.

"We knew we were short by 40,000 square feet," for the project, Cruickshank said.

The cost of the building and its expected $4.8 million renovation is included in the overall $115 million price tag for the project.

The project entails moving UConn's West Hartford campus to downtown Hartford. where it will be located primarily on the former Hartford Times property on Prospect Street.

Cruickshank said the nearby 38 Prospect St. building will be used to house the offices for the schools of social work and business and also for classrooms.

"This goes back to our whole concept of a neighborhood campus, of getting faculty, staff and students walking around … but the catch is you have to have the facilities near enough that people can do that in between classes," she said.

"The beauty of it is, it's the next block," Cruickshank said of the Prospect Street building. "You cross Front Street and there you are."

The resolution approved by the trustees said that "after extensive research and evaluation, and a long period of negotiation, the building at 38 Prospect Street was determined to represent the best alternative to meet the academic program needs of the campus at the least capital cost."

The architectural firm Jeter Cook & Jepson Architects occupies the building. According to the resolution the tenants of the building will required to vacate by Feb. 29.

The downtown campus is scheduled to open in fall 2017.

The board also approved $8.5 million to finance the purchase of the Nathan Hale Inn, located on the Storrs campus, which will be used for additional dormitory space.